Why 2026 is the year I’m making my first NYE resolutions ever

New Year’s resolutions have never really been my thing. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever really made New Year’s resolutions. Certainly not in any earnest way. Never in a pre-meditated, thought out fashion. And absolutely not written down anywhere where I might see, and be reminded of those resolutions months later.

There are a lot of reasons why I’ve never done this. The changing in the calendar year has rarely felt like a particularly meaningful, or even relevant marker in the various timelines in my life. If I waited until January to start something it usually meant that I was already way behind.

This year, I’m doing all of those things. I’m making resolutions. I’m sharing them here. We’ll see if that makes any difference or not. But, after years of not trying definitely not making a difference, I’m giving it a shot.

Converting the anti-resolution snob

Why? Well, after having kids recently, there’s a lot less “me” time in my life. That means I need to be a bit more organised with my time to get anything done, and ruthlessly efficient if I want to get everything done. If I don’t plan, by the end of the week I’m still at the start of my week’s list of things.

A conversation with the perpetually accomplished and inspiring Haley Smith (which will be live soon, but not now) helped make something click for me. When explaining why she was adding yet another hard project to her already very full roster of difficult projects (pro racing, a PhD, etc.) Smith said “Life will always be busy. You end up having the time for what you MAKE the time for, so I’ve decided to make the time now.”

So, here we are. In the now. With a few, somewhat bike-related resolutions. And a few life-based resolutions. Join me in making resolutions. Or side with my colleague, Colin, who has decided this year he’s done with resolutions all together.

2026 New Years Resolutions to make life on the bike better

Quitting Strava

I’ve steadily become more and more frustrated with the Strava experience. I’ll talk more about this, soon, but the basic frustration is that there’s more garbage data on there than there is useful garbage. And, to an extent, I think most of it is garbage. It was supposed to be just for fun. Now it feels like anything but. So, in the spirit of ruthless efficiency, it’s on the chopping block.

Doing the work in the winter (no, not Zwift)

This isn’t the most exciting…